Dungeon Lords First Play

The action-RPG has been all the rage in the console world but games in this
genre for the PC have been very few and far between – which is a bit of an
oddity since the PC game Diablo essentially created this genre. Dungeon Lords is
an upcoming game that attempts to correct this oversight by bringing action-RPG
gaming back to the PC where it all began. While there is plenty of action in the
game, it will offer far more RPG than you find in console games and provide a
deeper role-playing experience – and it certainly has the pedigree to do so with
famed Wizardry designer DH Bradley directing the game’s design. Intrigued? So
were we and we were lucky enough to get our hands on an early build of the game,
and we offer you an inside look at what you can expect from Dungeon Lords when
it is released in April 2005.

The first step in any kind of RPG is always character creation, and Dungeon
Lords is no different. However, you will notice something different about this
game as you go about building your in-game persona. First of all, unlike typical
action-RPGs that provide you with a small number of stock characters, Dungeon
Lords gives you plenty of choices in crafting your character. There are seven
playable races in the game, from your standard humans, elves, and dwarves to
unique races that resemble orcs and cats. Each race brings their own bias to
your starting stats, with humans, as always, the most balanced choice. You can
play as a male or female character for each race, but this is not simply a
choice of which skin will be applied to your character model. There are
differences to stats between the sexes so you’ll want to match your character’s
sex to the type of character you want to play. The game will also allow you to
customize your look by mixing and matching features such as skin tone and hair
style.

There are also character classes in Dungeon Lords, but the game takes a bit
of a different approach to this RPG staple. Your class does not restrict your
talents so much as it provides you with a specialization – a set of skills at
which you can increase your proficiency at an accelerated rate. For example, as
a mage there is nothing stopping you from acquiring and improving swordsmanship
skills, but it will be much easier and faster for a fighter to develop these
skills. This is a very flexible system that will let you create just about any
kind of hybrid class that you would like to, but that still allows you to follow
a traditional class progression if you’d prefer. At the start you’re given a set
number of points which you can use to improve your character stats or acquire
new skills. Each successive improvement in an area will cost you a growing
number of points, so you’ll need to put some thought into how you allocate your
points. Do you go for a wide range of basic skills or do you forego a breadth of
talents in order to squeeze out another upgrade or two to a key skill?

Once in the game you’ll notice that Dungeon Lords resembles a third-person
action game more than an RPG. Instead of a top-down, three-quarters perspective
view, you are placed in a 3D world with the camera just behind and above your
character. The control scheme is straight out of a first-person shooter – you
use the WASD keys to move and the mouse buttons to attack and block. Using
different combinations and series of movement key presses and mouse clicks will
unleash a variety of attack combos, letting you unleash more powerful attacks
and adding more strategy and depth to the fighting system. For you mage types,
spells can be mapped to the number keys so that they are always close at hand.
Press the desired spell button and your next mouse click fires the spell.

If the build that we played is any indication, the action in Dungeon Lords
will be fast and furious. You’ll often be attacked by multiple enemies
simultaneously and will need to be smart if you want to survive the fights –
it’s more than a matter of trying to click the attack button as fast as you can.
If you’re an RPG purist then this might all be too much for you, but most gamers
will enjoy playing an RPG that can actually get their adrenaline flowing.

Dungeon Lords looks like it will be a true action-RPG game, melding the best
aspects of each genre into a unique and enjoyable gaming experience. Whether you
look at it as an RPG on steroids or an action game with brains, Dungeon Lords
looks like it will be the first true action-RPG and we can’t wait to see the
final game.